Posts Tagged ‘Dale Carnegie’

Scott Adams listed skills that he thinks every adult should gain a working knowledge in his book “How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big” He writes that mastery isn’t necessary and that luck has a good chance of finding you if you become merely good in most of these areas.

Public speaking is a skill the need for which should be obvious. Adams himself took a Dale Carnegie course on public speaking which he found quite useful. Today he can make $100,000 for a single speaking engagement.

Business writing is another needed skill. The emphasis here is not on business, but rather that good business writing is both concise and informative. It provides a good model for effective writing in general.

Accounting is essential not only for businesses, but also for managing one’s household. An understanding is also necessary for evaluating stocks.

Adams writes that in today’s world we’re all designers, whether we like it or not. PowerPoint presentations, Web sites, or flyer’s for your child’s school events. Furnishing you home, buying clothes to look nice to others, and so on are needed. Design once was the exclusive domain of artists and other experts, but now we’re all expected to have a working understanding of design.

Adams notes that few people are skilled conversationalists. Most people just talk, which is not the same thing as conversation. The difference is that skilled conservationalists know techniques that are surprisingly non obvious to a lot of people. Adams goes into some detail about effective conversations, and he also notes that it is a learnable skill.

Overcoming shyness is important to overcome for obvious reasons. He says that we can overcome shyness with a little practice. It is worth the effort or one can find oneself socially drowning at every gathering or public talk. He provides examples regarding how to overcome shyness. He writes that the single best tip for avoiding shyness is to harness the power of acting interested in other people.

Learning a second language can qualify one for a large range of jobs and opportunities compared to monolingual peers.

He notes that the old cliche is that business gets done on the golf course. As Adams enjoys golf, both business and enjoyment can be done at the same time. However, HM likes to watch golf, but when he sees the difficulties and problems the best golfers in the world have, he has difficulty understanding how it can be enjoyed. HM is in agreement with Mark Twain who said that “golf is a good walk spoiled.”

Proper grammar is important. He provides examples of common grammar gaffes that can cause others to lower their opinions of you.

Today one also needs to have at least a working knowledge of technology at the hobby level.

He recommends having proper voice techniques noting that it’s helpful to have different vocal strategies for different situations.

Adams goes into considerable detail on each of these topics.

Two topics on his list, persuasion and psychology, will each have a post devoted to them.